Best New Bikes and Concepts of EICMA 2024
EICMA was, as ever, stacked full of surprise announcements and weird, and occasionally wonderful concepts - here’s our rundown of the best in show
If a manufacturer wants to bring out a headline-grabbing new model, showcase a concept, or announce some world-beating new technology to the two-wheeled world, they generally use EICMA as the launch pad.
Sometimes referred to as the Milan bike show, EICMA has been running since 1914 and is widely regarded as the largest and most visited motorcycle show in the world. The 2018 event pulled in half a million visitors and 1,200 exhibitors. With that many eyes on new metal at the event, it’s the perfect place to pull the wraps off something cool!
This year was no exception, and as Visordown was there in person to check out the new bikes in the flesh, we thought we’d bring you the biggest new bikes or concepts revealed event.
10. Bimota KB998
A few years ago Bimota used EICMA to unveil its Tesi H2, the wild hub-steering hyper-bike based on the Kawasaki H2. This year it was a slightly more conventional but no less important machine taking centre stage.
The KB998 is Bimota’s road-going version of the WorldSBK that will race in 2025 in place of the much-loved Ninja ZX-10R. Moreover, the KRT squad which has been a mainstay in WorldSBK since 2012, is to be rebranded as the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team (BbKRT)
The new KB998 is going to be produced in very limited numbers and just enough that it allows for the WorldSBK homologation rules to be adhered to. Pricing is unannounced, but if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it!
9. 2025 KTM 390 Adventure
A headline-grabbing, fire-breathing sports bike it might not be, but the 2025 KTM 390 Adventure was a very big news story when it wheeled onto the KTM stand. The 390 ADV is a model that has received little in the way of updates since it joined the A2 sector, and for 2025 it receives a big shot in the arm.
The big news was that an R variant of the bike was coming to market, with adventure-spec spoked wheels, a new frame and swing arm, revised styling, and much more. For riders looking for a quick, convenient, and comfortable daily commuter, that can still tough it out on the rough stuff, the little 390 Adventure R is likely to be a very exciting bike indeed.
8. 2025 Honda GB350S
Like with the KTM above, the Honda GB350S isn’t a bike that will be taking lap records for making dynamometers quake with fear - it only produces 20bhp and 21lb ft of torque, after all. It is though a bike that many European and UK riders have been calling for, since it was released as an Asian-market-only model a few years back.
Those calls have been answered for 2025, as the GB350S (the H’Ness name has thankfully been dropped) will come to the UK in 2025.
7. 2025 Ducati Panigale V2
Ducati took the chance to reveal a new Panigale V2 at the event this year, and while a new Pani’G is always big news, this one might not have been bringing the headlines we were expecting.
While sports bikes seem to push the boundaries of power, speed, and technology with every update, the new 2025 Panigale V2 was revealed as a less powerful, and less torquey model than before, thanks to the inclusion of a new 118bhp engine - around 40bhp down on the outgoing Superquaddro powerplant.
It is, however, lighter and cheaper than the outgoing Panigale V2. Ducati also states that at the Vallelunga test track in Italy (which is quite a twisty venue), it was only two-tenths of a second slower than the older, more powerful bike with test rider Davide Stirpe at the controls.
6. BMW F450 GS Concept
Having not long ago announced its world-beating R1300 GS and GS Adventure, you could have forgiven BMW for taking it easy at EICMA and focusing solely on its big-ticket items.
That isn’t the case though, as the German brand surprised the two-wheeled world with a funky-looking F450 GS concept.
Looking like a shrunken version of the R1300 GS, the bike utilises a 450cc twin-cylinder engine that punches out a claimed 48bhp via its six-speed gearbox. That engine is hung in a tubular frame which is headlined at both ends by enduro-spec USD forks (fully adjustable on the concept) and an off-set monoshock at the rear which is mounted directly to the swingarm.
Pricing is TBC, but we’d expect it to come in around the £7k mark, allowing it to squeeze its rugged-looking form in around the ADV models in the BMW range.
5. Fantic Imola
Fantic caused a bit of a stir this year, thanks to the announcement that its Imola concept bike, shown at EICMA for the first time last year, was to head to production in 2025.
The Fantic Imola uses a 460cc DOHC single-cylinder four-stroke engine, developed alongside the Italian brand Motori Minarelli. Engine and performance specs are thin on the ground, although we’d bank on it being an A2-compliant model, alongside the Caballero scrambler which will now use the same engine.
4. Honda EV Fun and EV Urban Concepts
Honda doesn’t seem too bothered by the global slowing of EV sales, as it used the show to reveal two concepts, the EV Fun and EV Urban battery-powered bikes.
Starting with the EV Urban, it’s a bike which would be landing into the urban mobility sector, as the name suggests, and would, if it ever did make it to market, become a bike that EV adopters would find attractive.
The EV Fun concept is a bit more of a tough sell, and as we’ve seen with the likes of Energica going belly up, or Cake, which has gone through its own difficulties, large-capacity electric bikes primarily aimed at out-of-town riding are trickier to market.
That’s not to say it's impossible though, and as we’ve seen with Zero Motorcycles, which has a number of bikes designed for out-of-town riding, which continues to weather the troubled waters of EV manufacturing.
3. Aprilia RS 660 Factory Announced
Since its release in 2020, only one version of the RS660 has been on offer, and riders were asking for a slightly higher spec, more track-focused edition of the middleweight sports bike.
That is what happens in the coming year, as the 2025 Aprilia RS660 Factory edition lands in dealers.
The bike is claimed to be a big step forward for the model, boasting a higher power-to-weight ratio, new aerodynamic winglets, new electronic rider aids and a GPS data logging feature. The big news though is the switch from KYB forks for more trick Ohlins NIX 30 items, which are matched to an Ohlins STX 46 shock at the rear.
2. CFMoto 206bhp V4 Engine
The Chinese brand CFMoto used EICMA to reveal a wild new 206bhp V4 engine concept, that was unwrapped at the same time as a wild-looking new concept bike. We’ll ignore the concept bike, as there is about as much chance of me riding in MotoGP as there is of seeing that thing make production, and instead focus on the engine, which really is the big news here.
The reveal of the engine not only means CFMoto has set its sights on rivalling the big brands like Ducati and Aprilia, but it also becomes the most advanced and powerful motorcycle we’ve seen from CFMoto - quite possibly the Chinese motorcycle industry as a whole.
1. Honda V3 Compressor Concept
Really the star of the EICMA show this year went to Honda, which unveiled this, wicked-looking concept featuring a V3 four-stroke engine with an electrically powered compressor.
The use of the funky forced induction means the compressor can spin up at any speed regardless of the engine RPM, theoretically meaning it can produce large amounts of power and torque at relatively low revs.
What happens next for the engine remains to be seen, although we’d bank on Honda using a future EICMA show to display how that project is playing out.
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
